6 unusual places to do yoga

1) In a Tuscan chapel

Even if you don't consider yourself much of a church-goer, yoga
inside a chapel nestled in the rolling Tuscan hills can't fail to
uplift you. The insanely charming Castello di Casole holds yoga
classes in the century-old San Tommaso chapel, making it the
perfect pilgrimage for those with lead-like limbs and city-jumbled
brains. Plus, there's homemade pasta and icecream to scoff as a
post-yoga reward, not to mention an entire wine cellar to sip your
way around. You'll leave converted.

Stay three nights from £975 per person with Elegant Resorts. Price is based on two persons
sharing a Studio Suite on a bed and breakfast basis.

2) With cowboys

Yeeee-ha! If you like horses and love yoga, boy have we found a
treat for you. The Double T River Ranch in Clyde Park, Montana runs
three-night retreats, covering everything from pre-ride yoga in the
saddle (focusing on yogic breathing and poses to practise while
riding), to yoga and meditation on riding trails. You'll be
surrounded by fresh mountain air and endless open space. A weekend
of this and you'll be ready to brave just about anything - if you
can bear to leave, that is. Cowboy hat optional.

3) On a roof deck

If you like lie-ins, you probably won't like early-morning
rooftop yoga. Then again, if you like lie-ins, what are you doing
reading this?! Planet Manna, a new yoga festival with outdoor
summer pop-ups around London (next one: July 10
in Hammersmith), will culminate its terrace tour with two
yoga-blowouts at a beach and mountaintop location TBD. Do
like the #fitspo set - the fest's inaugural session was led
by Insta-yogi Cat Meffan - and follow them to
learn more.

4) In the desert

No, we aren't losing our minds. We're not suggesting you plop
yourself on your mat in the scorching sun and fry like a sausage.
But if you stay at the Canyon Ranch Tucson you go out into the
Sonoran Desert at sunrise, to salute the sun and down dog on the
edge of canyons and under the towering Santa Cataluba Mountains
with nothing but vast desert skies around you. Sound like spiritual
heaven? It really is.

5) In the clouds

Are you nosy? Even just a little bit? Fancy spying over the
whole of London, as far as Windsor Castle and the Thames Estuary,
while stretching out your hamstrings? Well, you better leg it over
to London Bridge and up, up, up to The View from the Shard for a
yoga class 800ft above London. The BEST thing is that on really
clear days, you're let loose on the open-air 72nd floor.
Warning: it does get a tad windy.

6) In the Himalayas

The thing about trying out yoga at Dwarika's Dhulikhel Resort in
the knock-your-robe-off mountains of the Himalayas is that you can
do it anywhere you please. The 360-degree panoramas are
breathtaking, there are meditation and yoga spots peppered around
the sides of two hills, and classes first thing in the morning and
last thing at night (which is pretty much guaranteed to give you
sweet dreams). Namaste.